London Construction - Development News Thread #1

[MolsonExport]

yeah, but that beautiful parking lot...think of the children!

I hope it goes through. So many proposals...yet no cranes on the horizon (except way out in the hinterlands of Hyde Parking Lot)

[MrSlippery519]

So many GOOD proposals, heck if half of them actually get built we will be doing well.

This seems like a solid plan, hopefully we actually see a start in the 6-9 months the building is aiming for. Also seems to be a trend recently with new developments claiming "London’s tallest residential tower". Rygar did it way back, then Tricar with their new proposal and now this one. Will be interested to if those 3 towers get full approval, if we will see some height increases??

[Pimpmasterdac]

Good to hear the Mews site will be redeveloped. Can't believe some people on LFPress or AM980 were mad about losing surface parking lot...

I'm interested to hear/see if the old underground parking structure there is intact. Might need to be totally excavated/demolished though given the proposed height of these towers. But hopefully find out soon!

[MolsonExport]

Wellington Sq model

shoppingmallmuseum.

[GreatTallNorth2]

Originally Posted by Pimpmasterdac

Good to hear the Mews site will be redeveloped. Can't believe some people on LFPress or AM980 were mad about losing surface parking lot...

I'm interested to hear/see if the old underground parking structure there is intact. Might need to be totally excavated/demolished though given the proposed height of these towers. But hopefully find out soon!

It will be interesting to see what they find once they start digging.

[manny_santos]

Originally Posted by GreatTallNorth2

3 Towers for former London Mews lot...35, 32 & 19 storeys. New tallest residential for downtown.

http://www.lfpress.com/2015/06/28/a-resi...nned-for-the-former-smugglers-alley-site

Awesome!

I still don't understand why the City of London doesn't develop a multi-level parking garage, with levels both above and below ground, somewhere downtown. Maybe the old Dominion property on York Street just west of Wellington would be a good spot.

[Dither City]

New project 17 storey student condo building ( Ross Park Condos )1240 Richmond Street London.

http://www.condopromo.com/ross-park-condos-london/

http://www.londoncommunitynews.com/commu...ing-stereotype-gets-high-end-turnaround/

[ssiguy]

Great news and a good location. London needs this kind of development along it's primary corridors but still well within the city boundaries. This is not downtown but neither is it suburban.

I wonder if London's proposed LRT/BRT Richmond corridor played a part in it being right on Richmond..........wouldn't surprise me.

[MolsonExport]

another addition to the UWO micro skyline

[Snark]

Originally Posted by MolsonExport

Wellington Sq model

shoppingmallmuseum.

Nice catch. Unfortunately, I can say that I can recall parking on the roof there, and buying things inside - and I still own some of those things. The cars didn't look like the models shown though: I'm not quite that old. The store labeled as "variety" was actually a Woolworth.

All of those exterior windows didn't make it into the actual building.

[manny_santos]

Originally Posted by Snark

Nice catch. Unfortunately, I can say that I can recall parking on the roof there, and buying things inside - and I still own some of those things. The cars didn't look like the models shown though: I'm not quite that old. The store labeled as "variety" was actually a Woolworth.

All of those exterior windows didn't make it into the actual building.

Did the mall have that same basic configuration right up until construction of Galleria started circa 1987?

[Snark]

Originally Posted by manny_santos

Did the mall have that same basic configuration right up until construction of Galleria started circa 1987?

Yes. It was a single, spacious corridor spanning from Clarence to Wellington, with a smaller short corridor shooting off at a right angle towards York about 1/3rd of the way in from Wellington that took you to the parking garage.

Oddly enough, for the life of me I can't however remember what was on the opposite side of King Street before it was torn down in 1988 for the Campeau expansion. I do remember Fryfogals fronting on to Dundas where the library now is (and was also part of the Campeau expansion). Lots of the early punk scene happened there.

[ssiguy]

Wellington Square was not only busy but was a ground breaking concept.

It was one of the first enclosed malls in Canada and was the very first downtown mall in North America. London was {and still is} a test market city and it's success is what led to the downtown malls across North America.

When I was young downtown was very busy and vibrant and when you went downtown you invariable did "the circuit". You started {or ended} at Covenant Garden Market, crossed thru the back to Simpson, walked along Dundas to the London Mews, walked thru it and crossed King to Wellington Square and Eaton's.

The London Mews was in that empty section between Dundas and King thru what is now a paved over parking lot. It had about 70 small stores and movie theatres but was very busy. The stores did well not because they attracted any one but because it got huge foot traffic by people doing the circuit.

[manny_santos]

Originally Posted by ssiguy

Wellington Square was not only busy but was a ground breaking concept.

It was one of the first enclosed malls in Canada and was the very first downtown mall in North America. London was {and still is} a test market city and it's success is what led to the downtown malls across North America.

When I was young downtown was very busy and vibrant and when you went downtown you invariable did "the circuit". You started {or ended} at Covenant Garden Market, crossed thru the back to Simpson, walked along Dundas to the London Mews, walked thru it and crossed King to Wellington Square and Eaton's.

The London Mews was in that empty section between Dundas and King thru what is now a paved over parking lot. It had about 70 small stores and movie theatres but was very busy. The stores did well not because they attracted any one but because it got huge foot traffic by people doing the circuit.

Somewhere on SSP London, Snark had a pretty good synopsis of the Mews and what it was like in its heyday.

I remember watching its demolition in June 1999 from the former 2nd floor food court at Galleria.

[ssiguy]

Question.............when they pulled down the Mews and paved over it, did they destroy the underground parking as well? In other words, under the parking lot is there still an intact parking garage?

[Pimpmasterdac]

Originally Posted by ssiguy

Question.............when they pulled down the Mews and paved over it, did they destroy the underground parking as well? In other words, under the parking lot is there still an intact parking garage?

Uncertain. I've heard that the underground parking was left intact, as well as the foundation, as it was always assumed something was going to be built later on. Filling it in or destroying things would be more costly than the surface lot it became. I'm sure if/when the proposed developments occur we will find our answer.
--------

I have some photos of Wellington Square/Proposed Galleria of the time. Galleria was proposed to be much much bigger. More parking garages, over street link to City Centre, and parking garage, and a skyscrapper SW corner of Wellington & Dundas. Hard to imagine the initial scale of the project.

[ssiguy]

It would be interesting to find out.

If it is intact then that makes development of the land both cheaper and faster. The foundation and parking of a tall building can take as much time and nearly as much money as the rest of the building depending on it's height.

[haljackey]

...Which is why I am waiting for One London Place Phase Two, or Two London Place.

There was a story a couple years ago about Sifton wanting to build a second tower if they can find an anchor tenant. One London Place is full as no one wants do deal with Farhi so there is demand.

[Snark]

Originally Posted by Pimpmasterdac

... I have some photos of Wellington Square/Proposed Galleria of the time. Galleria was proposed to be much much bigger. More parking garages, over street link to City Centre, and parking garage, and a skyscrapper SW corner of Wellington & Dundas. Hard to imagine the initial scale of the project.

The parking garage on the south side of York Street wasn't required after the decision was made to demolish the existing structure on the north side of York and replace it with a much larger structure instead. That, combined with the decision not to build the office tower gave the developer the number of parking spaces required to support the retail development.

Other than the missing office tower, it was built pretty much as illustrated. The skywalk over to City Centre was never going to happen - that's nothing more than the architect's fancy.

[GreatTallNorth2]

I remember well the proposal for that tower on the Galleria site. The tower would never ever by built now because the medical hall of fame building will never be demolished. Really the tower proposal was to combat a development be Cambrigde Corp who was proposing several large (and I mean tall..40 stories) office towers and a mall where the bud gardens is now. Council basically had to choose one or the other development and they chose Campeau, which built Galleria, the nicest mall in Ontario outside of Toronto. It had Harry Rosen and a lot of stores never before in London. Too bad it fell apart.

As far as One London Place building a second tower, it is a nice thought but there is still about 10% empty space there if my memory is right. I used to work there and it is nice, but London still has quite a bit of space available that a new tower would need to land a major tenant before it got built.